


repudiations

by jdphoenix



Series: contracts [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e16 End of the Beginning, Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:20:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24361978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdphoenix/pseuds/jdphoenix
Summary: Stuck at the Hub with his wife while SHIELD goes after the Clairvoyant, Grant thinks they can at least make the most of their temporary quarters. Jemma has other ideas.
Relationships: Jemma Simmons/Grant Ward
Series: contracts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758928
Comments: 5
Kudos: 70





	repudiations

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the anon who asked how the uprising would go in my "breach of contract" fic. (Which you should definitely read before this one or a certain major event won't make any sense.) As you can tell by the tags this doesn't directly deal with that but it should answer the question all the same.
> 
> I "chose not to use archive warnings" on this one not because there's anything especially graphic but because of something that warrants spoilers. If you're worried, a very similar event does happen on the show and I show it in as much detail (aka none) as it's shown there. So if you can handle the show, you can handle this.
> 
> Also please don't tell me I'm wrong about the terms at the top of the fic there. I'm not a lawyer, I did not go to law school, this is a fic and I'm close enough to get the stupid title to work.

**repudiation** —a rejection of an idea; a denial of the truth

 **anticipatory repudiation** —a declaration that one will not live up to one's contractual obligations

“Where do you think you’re going?” Grant asks. In what can only be described as a miracle, Hand let them out of the nerve center after only two hours of questions about Deathlok’s tech and skills and fighting style. They’ve got another two hours at least before the teams are ready to move in Florida. Something that, to him, meant two hours of alone time with his wife in their temporary quarters, but apparently meant something different to her.

Jemma squirms in his hold. If he didn’t know her as well as he does, he’d think she was embarrassed because someone might turn onto this hallway any second and see them. But he does know her. Something else is going on here.

“Jem? What’s wrong?”

Her lower lip disappears behind her teeth and she won’t meet his eyes. He worms his fingers beneath her blouse and pinches just above her hip. She arches into him which in itself is nice enough, but that it gets her to meet his eyes is even better.

“Talk to me.”

She huffs out a breath. “I don’t want to involve you. The less you know, the less chance you’ll be disciplined—if it comes to that.”

Well, that’s the last thing he expected his straight-laced wife to say. Now he’s _gotta_ know.

He catches her hand and drags her along behind him. There are plenty of spare rooms all over the Hub, but the wing he’s heading for recently underwent reconstruction after one of Jemma’s peers caused a fire. Typically the labs are built to handle that kind of thing, but this guy had been working on a new type of accelerant or something. It’s not Grant’s area, but rumor has it there are gonna be a few new toys coming down the pipe for him and his fellow operatives to play with as a result—and of course that these labs haven’t been cleared for use again yet.

Once they’re in one, Grant locks the door and folds his arms across his chest.

“What has Coulson gotten you into now?”

Far from being cowed, she only rolls her eyes—but not at him. “That’s the problem in one, love. Coulson won’t _let_ me get into anything.”

Grant is liking Coulson more and more with every word.

“He thinks it’s too dangerous for me to investigate the compound which saved Skye’s life.”

And he’s back to square one. When he found out John’s plan to have him put on Coulson’s team fell through due to bureaucratic technicalities, the only thing that salvaged the situation was the same thing that almost ruined it: Jemma’s assignment to the team. Through her he can get potentially even more information than he would’ve had if he’d been on the team in Trip’s place. The agent in charge of medical is of course the most likely to learn the secrets of Coulson’s miracle cure and if it had been anyone but Jemma, he’d have had a hell of a time getting close enough. But yet again, Coulson is fucking up the plan by keeping her from doing what should be her damn job.

“Why would it be dangerous?”

Jemma bustles past him to access one of the lab’s computers. “Oh, I don’t know. Some ridiculousness about those men who died to protect the formula and if they were willing to do that, perhaps they knew something we don’t.”

Grant suspects Coulson might not be entirely honest there. He also suspects Jemma might not be.

After all the years they’ve been together—and through more effort than he’ll ever admit—he’s made a passable liar out of her. She can do it with a straight face and everything—mostly. But being the one who taught her means he knows her tells, the ones no one else might notice. She’s displaying all of them now: avoiding eye contact, unnaturally high pitched voice, trying to appear distracted with science.

There’s something here she’s not telling him. Under normal circumstances he might let it go so she can finish whatever it is she wants to do and they can get on with enjoying themselves. But John needs the GH-325. He’s getting worse. He shouldn’t even have gone on that mission today and Grant did everything short of knocking him out to stop him. Soon he’s gonna need to take the GH formula, no matter what the results of the human trials Centipede is running.

So instead of trying to talk Jemma out of something that might potentially put her on Coulson’s bad side, he pulls up a stool and asks, “Has something happened with Skye?”

She barely spares him a glance. “No. Skye’s fine. You wouldn’t even know she’d been shot were it not for the change in her demeanor.”

Relief loosens Grant’s muscles. He finds it in himself to smile. “So she wasn’t always a brat?”

Jemma gapes at him. “She was not a brat!”

“She _poked_ me.”

“Oh, well if she poked the fearsome Agent Grant Ward…” She laughs and, for the first time since Coulson started playing Ahab with this Clairvoyant hunt, her smile doesn’t come off as forced. “She was annoyed that everyone else had met you before she did and I’m afraid she was a bit hurt that no one had thought to introduce you to her.”

“What did she have to be annoyed about? She was unconscious.”

“When you met Coulson and May,” Jemma points out, returning to her work. “But Fitz and Trip have told her stories.”

Of all the dumbass things…

“She does know Trip and Fitz are our _friends_ , right? They were both at our wedding.”

“As I have told her. But I’m afraid she was miffed when she discovered that, quote, ‘the robot acting as Garrett’s shadow’ was my husband and no one had bothered to mention it.”

That might be Grant’s fault for never introducing _himself_ , but he maintains poking strangers—especially strangers with the training he has—is worse.

He lets Jemma work and settles into mostly silence. He asks a question or two as she goes, to remind her he’s there as much as to glean information for John. And he insists she use his access to get a secure line to the Academy to conference with Agent Weaver despite her worries about him being implicated in her violation of orders. He reminds her no one ever told _him_ not to investigate—the exact opposite, really, but he keeps that part to himself.

By the time she’s done, they’ve wasted all their free time and should really be getting back to the nerve center before they miss the whole mission or give Hand an apoplexy.

“Sorry about that,” Jemma says, “I know you had other plans for the afternoon.” She’s wiped the computer of all her activity and the keyboard of her prints, all without him having to remind her. That’s his girl.

Which is all the excuse he needs to catch her wrist just as she reaches for the door and spin her so she’s pinned against it. “We’ve still got time,” he says and, before she can respond, drops to his knees.

“Grant. This is a _lab_.” She says it with all the feeling some old biddy might say _th_ _is is a church_.

“Which is why I’m using the door instead of one of the tables.” Just because she’s the smart one in their relationship doesn’t mean he’s dumb. And he’s fast too, which is why Jemma’s already making those needy little noises he almost likes more than the screaming his name part. He’s got his head under her shirt, nipping at her stomach with his teeth to distract her while he undoes her slacks.

“Grant,” she sighs. He slips a hand inside. “Grant, _no_.”

All at once a neatly aimed kick sends him sprawling on the floor. He knows he looks like an idiot here, staring dumbstruck up at her, but this is literally the first time Jemma’s ever _attacked_ him. Her hands are over her mouth and all he can see of her expression are big, wide eyes.

“Sorry,” she says through her fingers. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“I guess I should be too.” He stands, hoping to hide some of the bitterness he can’t keep out of his voice in the move. “I mean, you didn’t want to-”

“No. Nonono. Grant, I _did_ want to. I do! It’s just…” She makes a frustrated noise in the back of her throat and checks her phone. Whatever she finds there, it doesn’t improve her mood. She stuffs the thing back in her pocket. “There’s something you need to know.”

Grant had hoped that after hashing things out last month he wouldn’t have to hear Jemma’s serious tone again for a while. No such luck.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He reaches for her and—thank god—she doesn’t pull away.

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine.” Her smile fades way too fast. “I suppose I should start at the beginning. Do you know an Agent Lowell Ferris?”

The name sounds familiar and Grant occupies himself with pulling Jemma closer while he wracks his brain. “Yeah,” he says slowly. “I think he was at the Academy a year ahead of me? Maybe two?”

“He spent the last six months in a SHIELD recovery center following a rather serious injury. Three weeks ago records say he succumbed to an infection.”

Grant shakes his head, not really seeing what she’s getting at here. Is she afraid he’s gonna wind up like Ferris?

She drags in a breath, gaze fixed firmly on his chest while she plays with the tie he’s gotta wear to keep up with Hand’s pointless dress code. “In actuality, he died nineteen days ago. Aboard the Bus. He was shot at- at point-blank range. Between the seventh and eighth ribs on his left side.”

While she struggles through the detached recitation, Grant can see the blood leeching from her face, and the idle toying with his tie turns more forceful.

“Jemma. Did you shoot him?”

Finally she meets his eyes. The guilt in hers is obvious. “He came at me so suddenly, I didn’t know what else to do. I- I thought it was an ICER.”

“Hey.” He grips her shoulders, giving her a little shake to stall the hysterics he can see building. “You did the right thing. You remember what I taught you? If someone’s trying to kill you…”

The reminder of an old lesson is exactly what she needs to pull herself out of it and focus. “‘You can’t afford to hesitate. Or- or to try to restrain them or talk reason into them. Your priority is survival.’”

He hugs her to him, letting her bury her face in his chest while he presses his into her hair. God, he can’t believe he almost lost her. And to another agent? What the _fuck_?

He stiffens. He _does_ know Ferris. They once worked together on an op in Ankara, just not one SHIELD knows about. Ferris is Hydra.

“What happened?” He pushes through the fear threatening to choke off his reason and thinks back to what Jemma’s team was doing nineteen days ago. That would’ve been when all of SHIELD was buzzing with gossip about an escaped Asgardian prisoner on the loose. He heard something about them being able to brainwash people like Loki did. “Was he compromised?”

He realizes as Jemma shakes her head into his shirt that she said Ferris was in rehab. Hell, he was officially _dead_.

“No. The others were gone to bring in a rogue Asgardian, but of course that situation was far too dangerous for Fitz or me to be involved. And Skye was still recovering.” She puts a little space between them, breathing deep but still gripping his arms for support. “He just appeared. He asked where the others were and I assumed he’d been separated from the reinforcements Coulson had requested and was running late. I told him they were already gone but he could likely catch up. When he asked if I was all alone, I- I didn’t think-”

He shushes her again, dropping a kiss to her forehead. That seems to be enough to help her pull herself together—good thing too because Grant’s having some trouble in that area himself.

“He said it was nothing personal on his end,” she says with a bitter laugh, “that orders were orders and I would understand.”

Grant hugs her close again, too shaken to put up with even a few inches between them. Literally. He’s shaking like some cadet on his first op. Hydra tried to kill Jemma. _Hydra_ tried to _murder_ his _wife_.

Someone’s gonna pay for this. Someone’s gonna _burn_. It’s a good thing today’s mission is gonna put an end to the Clairvoyant ruse because after today John won’t have time for any of that shit. He and Grant are gonna tear apart whoever thought it was a good idea to go after his family.

“I’m all right,” Jemma says softly. She threads her arms awkwardly between their bodies to take his face between her hands. “I’m right here.”

That’s a lie. She’s clearly suffering some PTSD from the encounter and the fact that he didn’t even fucking _know_ -

Why didn’t he know?

“Why didn’t I know about this?” Even if it was classified due to the nature of the attack, that wouldn’t have stopped Trip or Fitz from giving him a call.

Jemma’s expression shifts. All that hurt and trauma she’s trying to bury like she always does turns to sympathy. “I think we had better sit down.”

He lets her lead him back to the desks, where she pulls her chair close to his so that she can hold his hands.

“One of my team’s early missions involving the Clairvoyant dealt with a rogue agent. She had been presumed dead for many years and was in actuality being compelled to perform illegal acts for the Clairvoyant via a bomb planted in an artificial eye. Of course, when Ferris’ identity came to light, we assumed the same had happened with him. That in itself was something of a surprise, given that the Clairvoyant had up until that point- well.”

“What?” Grant asks, eager for her to get on with it so he can call John and tell him his vacation’s canceled.

“The Clairvoyant has quite obviously wanted me alive for some time now. We’ve seen his agents retreat entirely when the alternative might see me come to harm and once, when one failed to realize my identity before attacking, he was immediately killed via the implant. We always assumed the Clairvoyant wanted the research I was doing into his Centipede serum and was allowing me to complete it so that once I had, he would then have only to capture me and force me to give up the information, rather than forcing me to do work which I could then sabotage.”

“Makes sense.” And good thing too because the truth is Centipede’s soldiers had strict orders never to harm Jemma because she’s his _wife_. That would’ve been a helluva lot harder to explain.

“So we were of course confused by this change in tactics. When I examined Ferris, however, it became clear he had no implant. And no sign of the infection which had supposedly killed him either.”

“Okay. That still doesn’t explain why you wouldn’t report the death.”

Jemma tips her head and he doesn’t like the way pity softens her expression. “I think it was what he’d said that did it. That it wasn’t personal _for him_ , as though it was for whoever was giving the order. I think Coulson knew right then but went through the motions to make absolutely sure.”

A chill sweeps over Grant’s skin and suddenly the only warmth he can feel is Jemma’s hands on his. “Knew what?” he asks. Thinks he asks. He doesn’t really hear his own voice say the words.

“Coulson had never really believed the Clairvoyant was, well, _clairvoyant_. And now he realized that all of the knowledge he had supposedly divined was easily accessible—by a SHIELD agent. It would have to be someone high-ranking of course, high-ranking enough to falsify a death certificate and communicate an order without record-”

“Like a level eight.” That’s why Coulson summoned every level eight who had any connection to the Clairvoyant case to the Bus. _Shit_.

“Yes, precisely. Skye’s method of minimizing the dispersal of knowledge was a test. Everyone’s information was carefully measured to ensure that whatever move the Clairvoyant made next, the knowledge he displayed would tell us who he was. When he picked up on Thomas Nash, it could only have been one person.” She squeezes his numb hands tightly. “Grant, it- I’m so sorry, but it’s John.”

He stands up. His chair rolls back until it knocks loudly into one of the desks while he paces away from her.

“No. No, it’s not-”

But it is and she knows it. And so does Coulson and his whole fucking team and god only knows how many other people. This mission is a set-up. They know Nash is only bait so they’re gonna use it to turn the trap on John and- _Fuck_.

He needs to get out of here. He needs to get away from Jemma so he can call John and warn him.

“I need-” He reaches for Jemma, then turns the motion into a signal to stay put. “I need a minute.” It’s not hard to project claustrophobia and a need for some fresh air, but Jemma doesn’t let him go that easily.

She cuts him off, catching his hand and holding it between hers at her chest. “I know it’s difficult to believe. I’ve struggled with it too, but it’s the only explanation that makes sense, Grant.”

“No. No, it’s not. It can’t be.” Because if there’s not another explanation then there’s no way out of this for John—not until Hydra intervenes, but that won’t be until after a trial and that could take weeks; John doesn’t have weeks. “Maybe it’s Sitwell. Or Blake. Or Hand—she’s always been a bitch.”

Jemma’s shaking her head slowly. “None of them have any reason to kill me.”

He snatches his hand away. “Neither does John.” He knows he’s out of line. That’s not a tone he’s ever used on Jemma before—hell, he’s never even used it _near_ her. But John _wouldn’t_. Whatever that shit was with Ferris, it was just some random Hydra agent thinking he could mess with Grant or with John’s plans. It was a power play.

“Trip,” Jemma says, soft and steady like she’s talking to a dangerous animal—which she kinda is, “says that John has been attempting to manipulate him. He’s subtly maneuvering him into conversations about his former classmates who the Clairvoyant has killed, talking especially about the ones with families. We believe he’s been trying to convince him that the Clairvoyant—that Nash—needs to die rather than be taken in alive.”

“No. John wouldn’t do that.” John would and has _absolutely_ been doing that. Grant cups her face in his hands. “And he _wouldn’t kill you_. Like you said, he’d have _no reason_ to do that. He knows I would _never_ forgive-”

Grant cuts himself off. The truth is, there is one reason John might want Jemma dead: Grant himself.

John was happy about their relationship at first and he might’ve soured a bit when he realized Jemma couldn’t be turned, but he accepted it, even gave his blessing. Grant always thought that was big of him, considering the way he’d always harped on attachments being a weakness. He convinced himself John’d let it go, decided to be happy for him. And maybe he was.

But he was a whole lot happier to drag Grant all over the goddamn world on missions these past few months without having to “return him to the old ball and chain” after every one.

Grant only realizes he’s moving when Jemma catches his hands, not allowing him to leave her.

“We think Trip was only his back-up plan,” she says evenly. “His original plan was likely to drive you to kill Nash.”

By killing her, she doesn’t say. She’s wrong. A rare occurrence but it’s not like he can tell her. John wasn’t trying to drive him to murder, he was trying to bring him closer to him. Ferris, without any direct attachment to him, was the perfect agent to send in and the timing would put the blame squarely on the Asgardian, leaving Grant with no divided loyalties to keep him from helping John with whatever big moves he has planned for after his recovery and no reason to think the man he’s working for had anything to do with his wife’s death.

Jemma keeps going, telling him about Coulson’s plan. That most of the agents supposedly on their way to Florida are right now freeing John’s remaining incentives assets. John’s none the wiser, of course. He might think it’s odd that May is alone when she arrives, he might even smell the trap and try to escape. Grant’s torn on that. On the one hand, if he does realize something’s off he might be killed by a vengeful Cavalry, furious that he played friendly while behind her back he nearly murdered three of her charges. On the other, if John’s taken in quietly, Grant might just be able to find his way into his secure cell and use that new accelerant everyone’s talking about.

But all of that’s secondary to the feel of Jemma in his arms, safe and secure and _alive—_ something he almost never got to feel again because he was too blindly loyal to see the threat right in front of him.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m so sorry.” He swore he’d protect her and instead he’s the reason she almost-

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s not your fault.” Her hand runs soothingly up and down his back like he’s a child. “Nothing he did was your fault.” She turns her face to kiss his jaw, but that’s all she can do with how tight he’s holding her. 

“He’s never gonna hurt you again,” Grant promises and she goes on shushing him, thinking her team and SHIELD and their idea of justice will see the job done.

Sixteen hours later, after all the chaos of the uprising has started to settle and SHIELD’s retaken the Hub, he finds some of that accelerant and not a single guard stops him on his way down into the detention level.


End file.
